Chapter 16· Groove OS 2.0 beta

SETTINGS

Play along as you read: the FM-1 beside the text is a working one, running the real Groove OS 2.0, and it follows the part of the page you are reading. Tap a control's name in the text to find it on the panel, and press Start on a Try it card to be shown. Sound stays off until you turn it on.

SETTINGS is how the machine behaves: the synth's bend and glide, MIDI, the controls' timing, the hints, startup, USB audio, Bluetooth, storage, your samples and the about page with the crash log. It is also where Learn opens. Tap to open it, and tap it again to go back to where you were.

The top level lists:

Row	What it is
`PLAY ▸`	Bend range, glide, poly and mono.
`MIDI ▸`	Channels, clock, where the clock comes from, effects over MIDI.
`CONTROLS ▸`	The timing of the controls.
`HINTS`	The hint line: `ON` or `OFF`.
`STARTUP`	`RESUME` or `NEW`.
`USB AUDIO`	What the FM-1 offers a computer over USB: `IN+OUT`, `OUT ONLY` or `OFF`.
`BLUETOOTH`	Bluetooth MIDI: off, or on.
`STORAGE ▸`	Free space, put a sound bank back to factory, erase all projects.
`SAMPLES ▸`	Your samples (SAMPLES).
`ABOUT ▸`	Version, rescue mode, the battery, crash log.
`LEARN ↵`	Opens Learn: the six courses, to start one.

edits a value row; opens a ▸ row or does a ↵ row; goes back.

PLAY

Row	Values	What it sets
`BEND UP`	1 to 24 semitones	The range of the pitch bend, upwards.
`BEND DOWN`	1 to 24 semitones	Downwards.
`GLIDE`	`FULL`, `FINGER`	Whether glide always slides (`FULL`), or only when you play legato (`FINGER`).
`GLIDE TIME`	0 to 100	How long a slide takes.
`POLY / MONO`	`POLY`, `MONO`	Whether the FM tracks play chords or one note at a time.

These are the synth's own settings, so they apply to every FM track (the same as the PLAY group of the sound editor). They are saved with the project.

Try it·On the FM-1

The cursor is on PLAY, the first row. Press SEL to open its page, then tap HOME to come back.

SELHOME

MIDI

Row	Values	What it sets
`MIDI CH`	1 to 16, shown as a range (`1-4`)	Every track's channel at once.
`CLOCK`	`INT`, `OUT`, `EXT`	Whether the FM-1 runs on its own tempo, sends its clock or follows one.
`CLOCK IN`	`AUTO`, `USB`, `TRS`	Where `EXT` takes its clock from.
`FX CC CH`	`OFF`, 1 to 16	The channel on which control changes 0 to 23 drive the effects.
`SYNTH CH`	`ALL`, 1 to 16	Has no effect on how a sound hears bend or controllers: they always follow the selected track's channel.

See MIDI and sync for every row, and for what CLOCK IN does.

CONTROLS

Row	Values	What it sets
`HOLD TIME`	200 to 400 ms	How long can be held and still count as a tap (back). Held longer, or with anything pressed or turned meanwhile, it is a HOME hold. It also sets when the HOME tag and the key lights come in (the keys themselves are HOME keys from HOME's press).
`WHEEL SETTLE`	150 to 400 ms	How long the wheel must rest before the keys take on the new view's role, so a quick spin past a view never changes what the keys do on the way.
`PREVIEW`	`ON`, `OFF`	Whether the sound browser plays a short preview note as you move through it.

HINTS, STARTUP

HINTS switches the hint line at the bottom of each view (ON or OFF). It is on by default and stays as you set it. The tag that says what the keys do stays either way.
STARTUP is what happens at power-on: RESUME (the default) brings back the session as it was, from the autosave; NEW starts a blank session (four empty tracks, in C major with IN KEY off) and keeps only your favourite and recently used sounds. See PROJECT.

USB AUDIO

USB AUDIO chooses what the FM-1 shows a computer or phone on its USB-C cable. The names follow the computer's: an input is sound coming from the FM-1, an output is sound going to it.

Value	What the computer sees	The SAMPLER's `USB` input
`IN+OUT`	An audio input and a playback output	Works
`OUT ONLY`	An audio input only, no playback output	Has nothing to listen to
`OFF`	No audio at all, only MIDI	Has nothing to listen to

USB MIDI stays on in all three, so the website, remote control and the Learn pages keep working. A change applies after a restart: until then the value carries a star (OUT ONLY*) and the toast says RESTART TO APPLY (for OUT ONLY it starts TO COMPUTER ONLY). Choosing the one that is already running says what it is: AUDIO BOTH WAYS, TO COMPUTER ONLY or USB MIDI ONLY. The choice is kept by the autosave, so stop the music and give it a moment before you switch off.

In this beta: USB AUDIO is in the code but has not yet been proven on a unit in all three settings. If your computer does not show the FM-1's audio, check this row first.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn K1 one click right: OUT ONLY. The value gets a star until you restart the FM-1.

K1

BLUETOOTH

BLUETOOTH turns Bluetooth MIDI off or on: turn right for on, left for off. The toast says BLUETOOTH ON: FM-1 or BLUETOOTH OFF, and the choice is kept. There is no pairing: nothing to start on the FM-1 and no code to enter. With it on, a computer or phone lists the FM-1 as FM-1 Groove in its Bluetooth MIDI setup or in a MIDI app, and links to it from there, one device at a time.

The value says	What it means
`OFF`	The radio is off.
`FM-1`	On, waiting for a computer or phone to link.
`FM-1 LINKED`	A device is linked.
`RADIO ERROR`	The radio did not start. Switch the FM-1 off and on again.

What Bluetooth carries is in MIDI and sync.

STORAGE

Row	What it does
`FREE`	How many of the project slots are free, as `2 OF 3 SLOTS`.
`RESET BANK ▸`	Pick `BANK A` to `BANK D`: puts that bank's 32 sounds back to the FM-1's factory presets (asks). Otherwise only a bank loaded from the website changes them: see Loading banks from the website.
`ERASE ALL ↵`	Erases all three project slots (asks). The music stops.

SAMPLES

SAMPLES ▸ opens SAMPLES, the list of every sample on the FM-1, newest first, with where each one is used. The row shows how many samples there are and how much room they take. It is the same page the SAMPLER opens on, so you can hear, open, start and delete from here too: goes into the SAMPLER's editor on the row, and comes back. See SAMPLES.

LEARN

LEARN lists the six courses that come with Groove OS. Turn to one and press : it asks first, with the course's name and THE MUSIC STOPS; turn to START and press . The course starts on a fresh song and uses no song slot until you save it. With unsaved changes it says SAVE YOUR PROJECT THEN OPEN LEARN first. If the courses are missing, it shows one dimmed row, ADD THE COURSES FROM THE WEBSITE: run the install again from the 2.0 beta page. See Learn on your FM-1.

ABOUT

Row	What it shows
`GROOVE OS`	The version and the name of this build (`2.0` and the FM-1's build name). The boot screen shows the version too.
`BUILD`	The build's own code. Quote it when you write to support.
`RESCUE`	A reminder: `OCT- + OCT+ AT POWER-ON` starts rescue mode.
`SOUNDS`	Where the sound banks come from (`GROOVE-OS.COM/SOUNDS`): the website loads them into banks A to D, and PRESETS lists them.
`BATTERY`	The battery as the FM-1 measures it: volts and the raw reading (`3.92 V 608`), and `CHG` while it reads as charging. `NO READING` until the first reading, a second after power-on. The header's battery shows the same reading as bars.
`CRASH LOG n ↵`	How many crash reports the FM-1 keeps. (`SEND OVER USB`) sends them over USB.
`CLEAR LOG ↵`	Erases the crash reports (asks).

See Crash log for what a report holds and what to do with it.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn ALGORITHM down to ABOUT and press SEL: the version and build of this FM-1.

ALGORITHMSEL

Troubleshooting

What happens	Why, and what to do
There is no brightness setting	The FM-1's backlight is wired always on, so no setting could change it.
The header shows no battery	The battery shows on the views, not on menus, and only once there is a reading, about a second after power-on. Until then SETTINGS > ABOUT > BATTERY says `NO READING`.
The battery shows fewer bars than I expect	The bars follow the voltage, which drops while the FM-1 plays loud and rises at rest. SETTINGS > ABOUT > BATTERY shows the reading itself.
Holding shows a card, not SETTINGS	A hold is the card; a tap is SETTINGS. In a course the card is the step to do (see Learn on your FM-1).
Power-on does not bring my session back	`STARTUP` is `NEW`. Set it to `RESUME`.
`USB AUDIO` shows a star	The saved choice differs from the one the FM-1 is running. Restart the FM-1 to apply it.
The computer does not list the FM-1 over Bluetooth	`BLUETOOTH` is `OFF`, or the FM-1 is already linked to another device. Turn it on and look for `FM-1 Groove`.
`BLUETOOTH` says `RADIO ERROR`	The radio did not start. Switch the FM-1 off and on again.